Want to make websites for small businesses, what program should I use?

Hey there,

I had a similar thread to this. Though my thread may not have the answer to all your question's hopefully it can still aid you. Currently I have a free hosting account through biz.nf and am learning wordpress. From my experience wordpress is pretty convenient once you get the hang of it. As far as...Are there ways to fix these issues? Or go with Weebly? I am unsure of these answers

Here is the link to my old thread!
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-creation.html

Hope some of this can help you!

-Joe

I agree with jlewis. WP all the way.

Yes. Definitely .org. It's better to have www.companysite.com instead of companysite.wordpress.com. More professional for them and easier to work with for you.

I know a guy locally who does this and back in 2010 he was charging around $500 for simple sites. Guess what? He did very well for himself. I'm sure he's still doing well. A lot of these smaller companies would love to have a modern nice looking site, but they think it's going to cost $5,000+. When you tell them you can help them for much less, they love it.

I hope you'll offer to manage it for them for a small fee every month "in case" they're not comfortable doing it themselves. That's how you build things up. My wack job ex-boyfriend owns a small finance firm in NYC and he pays a guy $$$ a month just in case the company ever needs changes. Ha ha ha! The guy that built his static(?) html site is laughing all the way to the bank. The site is only for show and they never make any changes.

Good luck to you. I've always considered this path a good one. I'm sure you'll do well.

I started a reply to you twice now but I think I have too many tabs open. Here goes again:

- Jackie's site looks great. Vivid colors, interactive and good layout. Professional yet friendly.

- On your site: I like that your home page is colorful and has larger images. The only set back with the text over the images, is that sometimes it's like trying to have a conversation with a radio playing too loud. Does that make sense? Maybe find another way to present the transparent text. For someone trying to read everything and take in the home page images, it might be distracting.

- Home page footers: #1 PERFECT! I love the confidence and camaraderie. That makes people feel comfortable dealing with you locally. #2 use Customers with an "s" instead of singular - you want to give a feeling that you have a healthy portfolio of clients (experience) and change as "they" choose to be, to as "you" choose to be. Change "the" site to "Your" site will look... #3 Very strong and reassuring. Change "I don't want to waste it" to "I won't waste it."

- Services Page: change to far "less" instead of "lower". Consider adding: "but for the same work and quality service". Service is big in my book. I spend more money with Verizon because I know they will deliver. I love the second paragraph. Perfection. Well put.

- Services again: Consider increasing your Premium Package to $1500. Why? Because the SEO, Shopping Cart & Custom Photos are well worth an extra $500...especially the SEO part. I really like that you have the mouse over question marks on that page. Business owners aren't techies and the explanation will help them without embarrassing/insulting them.

- Benefits of a Website: Everything looks great. I love that you use the pinterest layout. Only one error: Global Reach & Efficiency both have the same text.

- I suggest you add a PO box or something else to your contact page. Personally, I prefer to see something other than a contact form. You could be anybody out there in cyberspace. Plus it will do wonders for reassuring your local customers. I do like that you have 48 hour contact note added.

Overall it's well put together, easy to navigate, easy to understand and the information (with the exception of the transparent text on the home page) is very accessible.
I hope this is helpful and I wish you the best with your new business.

You didn't but I believe you have your site name in her footer as the webmaster...no?

Just realized you were asking for tips on WP. It's really not that hard. I'm no where near a techie but I figured it out. Most of what I learned came from asking questions, either here or on the WP.org help forums. I'm sure with your level of expertise a tutorial will be more than sufficient.